Rep. Sessions: GOP will gain seats in November

The head of the House Republicans’ fundraising arm predicts his party not only will retain control of the House next year, it will gain seats — pushing back at estimates by many political experts that the GOP will drop up to 15 seats in November.

“We’re going to pick up seats,” Rep. Pete Sessions, the National Republican Congressional Committee chairman, told reporters Wednesday at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. “We realize that attitude plus focus is score, and we’ve got a great attitude.

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Mr. Sessions, an eight-term congressman from Texas, said his optimism is based on his belief that the political climate nationally hasn’t changed since 2010, when Republicans made historic gains and grabbed control of the House from Democrats. He pointed to strong showings in Tuesday’s primaries for the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney — and lackluster returns for President Obama — as evidence voters increasingly are turning to his party.

“What was faced last night … was an indication that the issues which are top on the minds of the voters are the same as those [in 2010]: It is Obamacare, it is big government, it is jobs and the economy, and it is spending,” Mr. Sessions said

He added that the issues that “are favorable to the Republicans — not just House Republicans, but really our appeal to voters as we try to move our agenda forward — will be in play and, we think, will be very good.”

Mr. Sessions and Rep. Greg Walden, Oregon Republican and NRCC deputy chairman, who also attended the breakfast, declined to say how many seats they expect to gain in the upcoming congressional elections.

Mr. Sessions said that House Republican candidates will benefit greatly with Mr. Romney at the top of the ticket and said the NRCC is coordinating with the presumptive party nominee on campaign strategies.

The Texas lawmaker added that he “knows of not one Republican candidate that would not appear publicly with Mitt Romney.”

“That’s really the key takeaway. One hundred percent of Republican candidates would appear with our entire ticket, up and down, from president all the way down,” he said. “And I know a huge number of Democrats that … don’t want to be even seen with the president.”